“The fans have just been out of this world”

Hamburger SV are preparing to host SC Freiburg this weekend, with the Bundesliga matchday 33 clash scheduled to kick off at 15:30 CEST on Sunday. The match will be HSV’s final home game of the season, and is a perfect occasion to celebrate the club’s now confirmed survival in the top flight. In Freiburg, the Rothosen are set to face an opponent currently sitting seventh in the table and who booked their place in this year’s Europa League final with a win on Thursday night, surely one of the greatest achievements in the history of the club. HSV head coach Merlin Polzin touched on this and much more in his press conference on Friday afternoon. He went into detail on...

...the squad: Sunday would be very tight to see Miro Muheim come back. Robert Glatzel has also been having problems with a calf strain over the last few days. We won’t take any more chances there, he’s out for Sunday’s game.

...the opponent: Firstly, we’d like to sincerely congratulate them down in Freiburg. I have a huge amount of respect for what they’ve achieved there – those games in the semi-final were fantastic, and it’s been a brilliant European campaign for them all in all. We’ve got our fingers crossed for the final, hopefully their journey can have a happy ending on 20th May. We’re preparing to face the best possible Freiburg line-up. We’re excited for the occasion, because we always want to test ourselves against the best teams. We’ll put out our strongest team for that very reason. There’s still an intense sporting aspect to this encounter, because you always have to be at 110% when you’re running out in the Volksparkstadion. Freiburg are also still chasing their goal in the league.

...the chance of rotation in the side: We’ll start the game with the XI that we believe will be best able to win this game, regardless of the fact that we’ve already achieved our season-long objective. Having secured our survival now, this is the first opportunity for us to play in front of our fans with that achievement locked down, and that’s motivation enough. The Volksparkstadion will once again show what it’s capable of when it comes to the energy in the ground and the sheer noise it can generate. If we win this game, then we’ll have done better in the second half of this season than Freiburg in the league. We’re clear on what we want to achieve, and we’re not prepared to ease off one bit. We’ve worked hard for all of this, and so we are where we are right now.

“It was a brilliant day all round, which I’ll forever remember when I think about securing survival.”

...the celebrations after securing Bundesliga football for another season: Our goalkeeping coach, Sven Höh, came to me and asked what I thought about us all watching it together on Sunday, with everyone included, so partners and kids as well. We obviously weren’t going to turn him down. There were at least 30 or 40 people there across the course of the day. We watched the game, and we had some great food, everyone brought something with them. Sven and his family were outstanding hosts. After the whistle blew on the Wolfsburg game, it got a little louder – the music, but also the songs we sang as a coaching staff about the fact we’d secured our survival. It was a brilliant day all round, which I’ll forever remember when I think about securing survival.”

...the support of the fans: The fans have been beyond brilliant this season – what they’ve done for us home and away has been absolutely out of this world. A*, no notes.  There have been situations a few kilometres from the Volksparkstadion or 120km south of Hamburg, where fans haven’t quite reacted as we have done in the difficult periods. Our fans were constantly there for us. There have been a lot of encouraging words, and there’s been a really close connection between the team, the coaching staff and the fans and fan groups. That means a great deal to me and the players. It shows how the club has grown together over recent years. We’re all pulling in one direction.

...the development of Ransford Königsdörffer: If you work with a person and a player over a long period, it’s a fantastic thing to see how they develop. Not only on a footballing level, but as a person as well. Ransi came to us as a young player with a huge amount of potential, and he needed a few years to really get it all going. This season, he’s been simply outstanding. He fulfils his role exceptionally. We’re able to really showcase our strengths as a side when we have him playing up top as a striker. We’re still the team who’ve scored the most goals on the break, which has a lot to do with him, because he defends so well and is then able to break at such speed. He’s also able to pose a real threat when we are in possession for longer spells.